Amy C Hearts ET
by Volcanic Lily
Summary: "It seems like everything is working against the two of us: my brother, one of my closest friends, my shyness, and let's not forget my own paranoia." Amy can't stop thinking about her crush, but it seems as if the whole world stands in her way. AC/ET


**Author's Note: Okay, so I haven't posted any new fics on here in forever- or, months, really. I just haven't been in a fanfiction-y mood... But now, I'M BACK, BABY! XP So here's a one-shot I wrote, since no one's written anything mentioning a certain Evan Tolliver yet (and I bet the fandom probably hates him most out of book 11- yes, more than Damien Vesper- just because he stands in the way of Amy/Ian; well, I sympathize, but I wanted to write this anyway). I guess that it's sort of spoiler-ish, since you don't meet Evan 'til Vesper's Rising, but he's not really important to the plot or anything- just some random guy that Amy apparently likes now- so it's not really a major spoiler or anything. So if you haven't read book 11 yet, read on! :)**

_Tick, tock, tick, tock…_

It was eleven sixteen and thirty… thirty-one… thirty-two seconds. I sat in my ninth grade Chemistry class, trying my hardest to listen to my science teacher as he droned on and on and on about electron configuration or something of the like.

My eyes kept drifting over to the clock. Less than fifteen minutes left until lunchtime. Less than fifteen minutes until I was out of fifth period.

Don't get me wrong- Amy Cahill still cares about her schoolwork. It's just that she (and by "she," I mean "me"- no idea why I'm suddenly talking about myself in third person) has been a little… preoccupied lately.

It's sort of difficult to concentrate on the wonders of electron configuration when you're sitting directly behind Evan Tolliver.

I guess I've been hit by "lovestruck teenage girl-itis." I can't hear a love song on the radio without thinking about him. I can't listen to one of Nellie's old boyfriend stories without thinking about him. And whenever I try to take Chemistry notes, I end up doodling his name all over my notebook: "Evan Tolliver," "Evan," "Evan and Amy," "Evan T. + Amy C.," "Amy C. hearts E.T.," etc.

It's a sad state. You're probably thinking I'm crazy. Then again, you don't know Evan Tolliver.

What's a sadder state, though, is when my pesky brother Dan got a hold of my notebook. Let's just say that he has enough blackmail on me to force me to clean his room for him for the next two months.

_I walked into my bedroom after a long day of school, flinging my heavy backpack down on my bed. I sighed deeply. I had at least two hours worth of homework to do, and after that, there was the training I had to do, now that our house had been turned into a state-of-the-art Madrigal training base. And after that, I needed to…_

_I was interrupted by Nellie's scream. "Amy, come here! Hurry!"_

_I immediately got a rush of adrenaline as I switched into attack mode. I darted down the stairwell, two steps at a time, bursting into the kitchen and breathing hard. "Nellie! What's wrong?"_

_Nellie stood at the counter, holding up a dish. "Here, could you try a bite of this, kiddo, and tell me if it's any good?"_

"_Don't scare me like that, Nellie. I thought there was a Vesper attack or something!" I exclaimed. I took a bite of Nellie's newest concoction: sweet, with the tiniest hint of strawberry. "Mmm! Oh, this is delicious!"_

"_Thanks," said Nellie. She grinned. "Now, to see if Dan likes it. He's probably in his room, playing video games. Could you go get him?"_

"_Sure," I said._

_I walked up to Dan's room and was surprised to find it deserted, his Nintendo DSi left abandoned on the floor. I picked it up and put it on his shelf, where it would be less likely to get trampled, and shrugged my shoulders._

"_Oh, well. I guess he's not here. I'll just get back to my homework, then, and… Dan!"_

_I had just stepped foot into my room. There was Dan, sitting on my bed and flipping through my notebook, laughing. He looked up at me and grinned._

"_Hey, sis. What's up?"_

_If looks could kill, the one I gave him at that moment would have caused him to disintegrate into absolute nothingness. "Dan. What. Are. You. Doing?"_

"_Reading," he said innocently. "My English teacher told us we're supposed to read every night. So I'm doing my homework!"_

"_Dan…" I began._

_Dan snickered. "So, 'Amy C. hearts E.T.?' Uh, you do realize that E.T. phoned home a long time ago now, right?" He then began to chant, "My love alien sister loves an alien! My love alien sister loves an alien!" at the top of his lungs, over and over again._

_He was dead. He was deader than dead. He was so dead that I was going to rewrite the definition of the word "dead" and shove it down his throat._

"_Give that back to me!" I said._

"_But it's funny!" my brother grinned. "So, Amy, you're in _lo-ove _with _Evan_, huh?"_

"_Give it back, Dan!"_

_I grabbed the notebook and wrenched it out of his grasp, the force sending me tumbling backward off my bed, landing on my head on my hard floor. I stood up and rubbed my forehead. My notebook stayed clutched against my chest._

"_Get out of my room," I told Dan. "And quit messing with _my_ stuff!"_

_The little blonde devil was unperturbed. "Okay. That's fine. I don't want your notebook anymore- not when I've got photos of it!" He pulled a camera out of the pocket of his baggy blue jeans and waved it in my face before sprinting out of my room, cackling._

_I sighed. "Next, he's going to go all Lucian on me and start blackmailing me."_

_And he did._

Now, it was only _two_ minutes until class let out for lunch. Half of the class was staring impatiently at the clock, while the other half still at least _seemed_ to be listening to the teacher as he continued to talk in his monotone voice about electrons configuring themselves.

I tried to tune back in again. I really did. But there was the matter of the back of Evan Tolliver's head being positioned right in front of me….

/

I sat down at the lunch table with my tray. My entire half of the table was empty, as none of my friends were there yet. They always took eternity, except longer, to get through the lunch line. By the time they got to our table, lunch was usually halfway over already.

Sitting at a table by yourself isn't always so awful, though. Today, for example, once I finished my food, I was able to read more of the last book in the _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ series. Honestly, that Rick Riordan is a genius.

It was as I neared the climax of the book that I felt a presence taking the seat beside me. I assumed it was one of my friends and was opening my mouth to say, "Aw, and I was just getting to the good part!" when I looked up… and felt my stomach do a flip that would have been the envy of any Olympic gymnast.

Evan. Tolliver. Was sitting. Right next to me.

I was suddenly overcome by the sudden urge to either float off into the clouds or sink down right into the floor. I was leaning a bit towards the latter.

"E-Evan!" I exclaimed, my cheeks suddenly flaming. Rats, my stutter was back. "Um, hi…"

"Hey, Amy," said Evan. He smiled, displaying perfect, white teeth. My stomach cartwheeled. "Mind if I eat with you?"

The heat rose to my face, burning even hotter than before. "S-sure…"

Evan stayed in his seat beside me. "So, is that a good book? I hope I didn't interrupt you during a good part."

"It's fine," I mumbled.

Evan continued to talk, asking me questions about the book, and then about myself. We ended up talking about Dan (who he had unfortunately met) and our teachers and other things we had in common. And when I say "we" were talking, I mostly mean that _he_ was talking. I mostly sat there and blushed and nodded like an idiot.

I was in a state of disbelief. I couldn't believe this was happening. Evan Tolliver, a popular guy, was showing an actual interest in _me_- quiet, boring, bookwormy Amy Cahill.

Despite myself, I felt somewhere deep within me a bit of wary suspicion, leaking out into my mind and encompassing all my giddy, girlish thoughts. _Why_ would he suddenly want to talk to me? What could he want from someone like me?

My heart sank. The Clue Hunt had made me so suspicious of people's motives. I couldn't just openly trust anymore; I had been betrayed too often. On one hand, I could see how it was better for me not to be so naïve.

On the other, I _wanted_ to be able to trust people. I really did. I wanted to be able to believe the best in people again- to think that most people, if not quite all of them, did truly care about others and want the best for everyone.

But things had changed. I had learned. Despite my behavior of late, I wasn't just a normal teenage girl. I had seen things that most people never would believe and been stabbed in the back by so many people that to still feel blindly trusting would be insane. Even if those people were my friends now- sort of, anyway- I could easily remember when the pain of their betrayal was still a raw wound, getting opened and reopened again.

It wasn't really any wonder that, as Evan sat beside me, smiling and talking with enviable confidence and cool, I eyed him with a bit of suspicion. What sort of motives could he have for talking to me? That smile- kind, or with a hint of malice? That twinkle in his eyes- was it just friendly, or was it amusement at knowing he was winning me over?

My paranoia was taking over, and I knew it. It was probably nothing, I told myself, probably nothing. He was most likely just being nice…. Unless that was what he _wanted_ me to think, and he was just playing with my heart, getting me to let my guard down, to get something from me- like Ian all over again.

Except this way _Evan Tolliver_. He was different. Wasn't he? He wasn't going to just "pull an Ian" (Nellie literally uses that phrase in conversation, much to my chagrin) and break my heart. Because he was Evan Tolliver, nice guy. Unless he wasn't….

_I'm being paranoid again_, I told myself. _Quit this, Amy. Quit this. You're being ridiculous. Just because it happened once doesn't mean it's going to happen again. That was the Clue Hunt, and this is just high school. Evan wouldn't even have any reason to want to use me. Ian wanted our clue, but there are no more clues to find, and I don't even think Evan is a Cahill, so I'm just being stupid. Just being…_

Evan's voice butted into my thoughts. "Amy, can I ask you something?"

"What, Ian?"

He stared at me strangely. I looked back, wondering why, wondering why… Wait, had I just called him "Ian?"

My face, already warm, shot up to the temperature of a furnace. My mouth dropped open, but no words came out. I could just stare at Evan in embarrassment. Without another word, I grabbed my book and fled from the table.

/

I was to ride home with my friend Amelia Stevenson today. Rides with Amelia usually consisted of a lot of chatter and giggles, but that was tough luck for her, since I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone after what happened at lunch.

But the moment I slid into the back seat next to her, I knew that wasn't going to be possible.

"Hey, Amy!" exclaimed Amelia in her energetic voice. "What's going on?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

Amelia paused for a moment. "So, um, I heard that Evan Tolliver was going to ask you if you wanted to be his partner on you guys' Chemistry assignment. But he said you freaked out and ran off. What happened?"

I started to answer, then stopped again. "Wait, what? Science partner?"

"Yeah. He _was_ going to ask you. Now, he's partnered with Kristi Haynes. So what was wrong? I thought you _liked_ Evan."

"I… I do," I said, "But… It's just how he never really noticed me before, and then suddenly, he starts talking to me. I was worried he was just playing around with me or something. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened."

Amelia nodded sympathetically. I had told her briefly what had happened with Ian (leaving out anything about the Clue Hunt, any names, and- well, really, I didn't tell her much of anything), so she knew what I was talking about. To an extent.

"And I… And then, I accidentally called him the wrong name, and… I was so embarrassed. I couldn't stay there after that," I explained. I put my head in my hands. "I'm such an idiot…."

"Yeah." Amelia, for no explicable reason, was smiling. "Yeah, you are."

I crossed my arms and slumped down in the soft plush seat. "Thanks. That means a lot to me, Amelia."

"Look on the bright side," she said. "Yeah, you screwed up- _bigtime_. But maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Ya know?"

I just looked at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head- and a third, possibly a fourth.

"I'm serious," she said. "Give me your notebook."

"What?" I said.

"Your notebook," she repeated. "You know, the only with 'I love Evan Tolliver' written all over it. Give it to me."

I blushed. "Wh-what? How do you know about…?"

She looked at me seriously. "Amy, _everyone_ knows about that. Your brother put it up on his CliqueMe."

"_What_?" I was going to kill Dan. I was going to _kill him_.

"Yeah. But that's not the point. The point is, give it to me."

Without waiting for me to respond, she leaned over, unzipped my backpack, and pulled my notebook out herself. Then, she flipped it open, took out a Sharpie, uncapped it, and got to work, ignoring my protests.

"Amelia! What are you doing?… Amelia! Amelia? Stop that!… Hey, don't mark that out! I… _Amelia_!"

She looked up, her work done. "Here."

She handed my notebook back to me. All my "Amy hearts Evan" doodles were covered up by hot pink Sharpie swirls and loops and X's. I could only gawk.

"Amelia, what did you do that for?"

My friend smiled smugly. "I'm just helping you get over it. Yeah, you probably ruined any chance you have at going out with him now, but…"

My eyes narrowed. "Thanks."

"_But_- who needs him? Evan's just another guy, Ames. There's plenty more just like him!"

_None "just like him," _I thought despondently. _Evan Tolliver is "IT." He's the coolest, smartest, cutest guy in the entire school. And I blew it._

Nevertheless, I decided not to say anything. It wouldn't do any good, anyway, and besides, I didn't want her to find out about my _other_ notebook that was still safely tucked between my math and English binders.

/

I stormed into Dan's room. "_Daniel Arthur Cahill_!"

He looked up from his DSi. His face seemed the picture of innocence, but I knew better. Almost twelve years with him, and I could tell that he knew very well what I was angry about.

"How could you post pictures of _my private journal_ on your CliqueMe page?" I exclaimed. "How could you?"

Dan hesitated, then pulled a sorrowful expression. "I know. How could I?" He slipped back into a mischievous grin, which seemed a lot more natural on his face. "How could I post it before your two months of cleaning my room were up, I mean? Now, I've got no blackmail on you!"

"Dan…" I growled. I crossed my arms. "I'm serious. How could you do that? I thought you'd matured since the Hunt."

He went back to his video game. "Well, yeah. But messing with you is a great stress-reliever. And in case you haven't heard, middle school is stressful. Would you rather me die of a heart attack?"

At the moment, yes, I would have rather. But I knew, deep down, that I didn't really mean that. Plus, the best way to get back at little brothers is to act like it doesn't even bother you. So I attempted to do exactly that.

"Whatever, Dan. I'm glad you had fun. Now, I have to go do my homework. Enjoy your game."

I exited the room, leaving behind a gaping Dan. Despite my utter mortification, I had to grin.

I entered my bedroom and set my backpack down on my bed, then cracked open my math book and got to work. But it was only moments later that my perfect, peaceful silence was shattered… by the sound of my cell phone ringing.

I sighed through my teeth and picked it up with a slightly exasperated, "Hello?"

The replying British voice also didn't seem too happy. He was attempting to maintain at least a little bit of calm, but he was desperately failing. And the color rose to my cheeks again.

"_Who in the bloody world is Evan Tolliver_?"

It seems like everything is working against the two of us: my brother, one of my closest friends, my shyness, and let's not forget my own paranoia. I guess that now, I could add Ian Kabra to the ever-growing list.

**Author's Note: There. It's over. Hope you all liked it! So, what did you think? OOC? Grammar issues? (I hope not.) Cliche-ness? (Doubtfully; no one's written about Evan before, so...)**

**Anyway, whatever you thought, tell me in a review! Pretty please? XD ...No, I'm serious. Review. Or die... Not really. But it'd make me happy! (And then, you'd get good karma! :)**

**~Lily**


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